There needs to be more allowance for club trained players. We need to get more juniors playing the game at every club.

IMG should be insisting that to get a Super League licence a club should have a scholarship, academy and reserve team to complete a pathway structure to the first team.

It's so obvious, and fans have been saying it since Day One. But do they listen?

Regarding injuries from foul play and the salary cap respite, what are clubs supposed to do with the money, sign a player short term? I don’t think that will work!

Great idea in principle but where are all the players going to come from?

I think I'm right in saying some clubs are prevented from running fully fledged academys/scholarship teams. To be honest I'm not sure that even in an ideal world everyone should have one anyway. There are a lot of players running round in reserves at some clubs who very obviously are never going to be Super League quality. They just chuck them in there because they are obliged to run a reserves. Meanwhile those players pour their efforts into an unobtainable dream instead of getting a normal job, qualifications etc, then they don't return to the amateur game when it all falls apart. It doesn't really get talked about but I do think there's a level of responsibility from the pro game to not irresponsibly get lads involved who have no real chance of making it.

It would take some smart management but I'd sooner see closer links between NCL sides and reserves so that players who mature later or take up the game later still have opportunities, and those who don't make it still return to the amateur game.

Clubs need to be coaching in schools. Unfortunately, PE teachers and rugby are scarce on the ground.

Unless we get more juniors in the game we are never going to compete with the Aussies. Penrith has more juniors than the whole of the teams in our country.

Bit left field but who remembers Gabe Hamlin? Was a solid forward for us and currently only 27. Did he get banned for awhile for drugs?

2 year ban if i remember correctly. was decent enough but not exactly a 'big' forward

Agreed, academies etc don't get more juniors in the game though.

Yep. Claimed if was traces of coke from kissing a girl in a nightclub who had taken it

Thought he did well for us. Pity how it ended!

Haha blast from the past. Looked ok in the games I saw him play. May be a false memory but I'm sure he was frustrated with the way Wane wanted him to play. He had good leg drive on contact but Wane told him he wanted him to hit the deck quickly and play the ball. The coke on the lips was comedy gold. Think he played lower level back in Aus when his ban ended. Amazed he is only 27 though

Zac Fulton was rumoured on here a while ago, turned down a deal to remain at Bradford in favour or a return to Australia.

I guess with the retention of Isa and the Hirst “project” signing it was never a deal that was going to happen for Wigan.

Sangare to Salford.

Some Leeds fans thinking Byrne to Leeds.
I posted that I don`t think too many Wigan fans would be unhappy if that happened.
What`s your thoughts?

Disagree I think he would be a big loss, still young had a wobble but if he can get consistency he will be right up there with the top props in SL.

I think most would be unhappy but on the basis that you lose the best version of Liam Byrne. When he's at his best, he's a terrific player but it's been a bit too few and far between the spells of him being at his best. He's still relatively young for a prop however and as Jonh mentions below, if he can find consistency, he can kick on and become a very good player. I'd be sad to see him leave without a doubt and I think Leeds would be getting a good player.

I disagree.

Even on his best day he isn't close to that.

He is good squad player but you wonder about his long term future with the likes of Eseh and Hill.

I think if we can keep him hes an extra (big) body to be able to call on but he is too erratic in his performances and is taking the place of Hill who, imo, has shown more than Byrne has

Can people please point to where Byrne has put a run of 3 or 4 games together where he’s been dominant in any area? You can do that for Thompson, Havard and even Mago this year but Byrne, I just can’t think of anything other than one shot on Navarette last year. He’s a very average prop with no major ceiling above where he is now. At least with someone like Hill there’s a chance he could break out given the chance.

We have already lost one prop, no need to weaken ourselves further. Last season is proof that a big squad with plenty of prop options is the way to go.

The coach clearly feels Byrne is the prop he can trust most in our biggest games after Havard and Thompson. He was straight on when Thompson had to move in to the second row in the GF, he started in the World Club Challenge ahead of Dupree, Mago and Hill and he still got a place on the bench in the Cup final, even though I would say his form wasn't the best around that time.

That's good enough for me to want him in our squad and to think that he must be a pretty good player. He needs to find consistency and to improve and I think he will because he's just turned 25 and that is still pretty young for a prop forward.

i posted on the Leeds forum a couple of week ago about Byrne, and that you'd get a mixed response
i personally think he would go well, as he'd currently be starting prop with Oledski, and the main reason you are looking for props is that your current crop arent good enough (taken from Leeds forum) with the exception of Oledski who is being asked to carry the full pack week in week out

one thing that is noticeable with Byrne is that he is better when he starts than coming on mid game, but that hasnt just been him this past season. I think Thompson and Havard are both capable of 80 minutes and at intensity, so he's struggled to get up to pace and make an impact in some games, but that has also been labelled at Mago and Dupree too this season. The main thing to take away though is that when it mattered at the business end of the season, all 3 mentioned had an impact when they came on